R v Weasley
by Evil Computer
Summary: In this more experimental style of fanfiction, read the court's final decision regarding Ginny Weasley's criminal case.


Harry Potter is J.K Rowling's work, so no copyright is intended, as there is no profit gained from me writing this one-shot.

I have decided to approach this story a little differently I will be writing as if I were a judge writing his or her decision. Since the Harry Potter series does not make the wizarding court system really clear I have decided to take some liberties. In this Fanfiction, the British magical criminal court system has two tiers, the Crown Court (the level that this decision is being heard at) and the Wizengamot (which I see as a sort of Supreme Court of Wizarding Britain). For those of you who have never read a court case before, be warned as it can be hard to follow (though I have done my best to simplify it). This story is influenced by a real and recent decision called _R. v. Courneya_.

CITATION: _R. v. Weasley_ , 2002 ECCJ 380

COURT FILE No.: 16-1296 London

DATE: June 14, 2002

English Crown Court of Justice

BETWEEN:

THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

\- AND -

GINEVRA WEASLEY

Before Justice Rufus Foster

Sentencing Submissions Heard on May 24 and 27, 2002

Reasons Released on June 12, 2002

FOSTER, J.:

INTRODUCTION

[1] In 1985, when Ginevra (Ginny) Weasley was just a little girl, Wizengamot issued its decision in _R. v. Rowle_ (1985), which concerned itself with the sentence in a case where a wizard's impaired driving caused death. In its reasons, the Court stated that "No wizard takes to the road or air after drinking with the thought that someone may be killed because of his or her drinking. The sentences should be such as to make it very much less attractive for the drinker to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking. The wizarding and muggle public should not have to wait until members of that said public are killed before the courts' repudiation of the conduct that led to the killing is made clear. It is important to make it clear that every drinking driver is a potential killer."

[2] This statement was made by the highest court in Wizarding Britain and still stands fifteen years later as a clear judicial condemnation of drunk driving. Every year since then Wizengamot and lower Crown Courts have continued to denounce the absurdly high cost in property, life, and limb that drunk drivers continue to extract from innocent wizards and muggles alike. There are many other judgements that followed that case that would take piles of paper to properly go through. However, one message has remained clear, that drunk driving should be punished to the fullest extent permitted by the wizarding law.

[3] Ginny Weasley has, by her intoxicated and illegal actions, compelled the victim, his friends and relatives, and our entire wizarding community to pay the price because she ignored not only a lifetime of constant censure of drunk driving by the courts, but also years of education about the dangers of drunk driving.

FACTS

[4] The facts of this case went uncontested.

[5] On the evening of Saturday 24, 2001 Ginny Weasley had decided to go out drinking with her fiancé Harry Potter in London. Since the car that she used in the incident was her own, she was the sole driver for the couple on that night.

[6] According to the testimony provided by Ms. Weasley, she and her husband decided to drive down Brixton Road and choose a muggle pub to drink at. They had decided to drink at the White Horse Brixton Pub. According to Ginny Weasley, Harry and she had a good time listening to live music and drinking cocktails.

[7] Witnesses claim that they saw Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter leave the bar intoxicated. These witnesses also testified that they saw Ms Weasley get into the driver seat of her car and Mr. Potter get into the passenger seat. The car was said to have pulled out of the parking spot, accelerated to almost seventy kilometres per hour before hitting a light post on the passenger side.

[8] According to experts from St. Mungo's Hospital Harry Potter was killed instantly, while the accused only suffered minor injuries. Harry Potter was only 21 years old at the time of his death.

[9] Immediately after the incident aurors were on the scene alongside the muggle police. After talking to a few witnesses, they arrested Ginny Weasley on the charge of Driving while under the influence of alcohol causing death, which is contrary to the British Wizarding Criminal Code at section 255(3).

[10] While booking Ms. Weasley aurors discovered that the accused had twice the blood-alcohol legal limit for driving. Due to the severity of her crime, Ms. Weasley's bail was set at two thousand Galleons. Her bail was paid by the accused's mother Molly Weasley.

CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE ACCUSED

[11] At the time of the crime the accused was only 20 years old. She was engaged with Harry Potter at the time of the offence. Ms. Weasley has no previous criminal record but has a traffic record with three prior speeding offences. Before her arrest Ginny Weasley was playing for the Holyhead Harpies, an all-female Quidditch team. However, the negative news that surrounded her arrest got Ms. Weasley kicked off the team and she has been unemployed ever since.

[12] Ginny Weasley elected to test the Crown's case before changing her plea to guilty. After changing her plea at trial, a sentencing hearing took place over two days. In the weekend in between the sentence hearing Ms. Weasley chose to talk to many wizarding news agencies about the crime she had committed. In what may be considered as unprecedented interviews, she spoke about what it means and how it feels to kill somebody, particularly her fiancé, while driving drunk. She was candid and uninhibited during these interviews and she accepted the complete responsibility for her deeds.

[13] During the sentencing hearing Ms. Weasley was given the opportunity to address the court. With my approval, she spoke directly to the friends and distant relatives, including a godson, that Mr. Potter had left behind. The accused provided a genuine and earnest apology for her actions. She did not try to excuse her inexcusable conduct. Ms. Weasley acknowledged that her crime was no mistake, but was instead a fatal choice. Ginny Weasley stated that she wished that she would have been the person to die in her fatal accident and not her fiancé Harry Potter. Ms. Weasley finished her statement by saying that she wishes, but does not expect forgiveness.

AGGRAVATING AND MITIGATING FACTORS

[14] In _R. v. Nott_ (1989) Wizengamot made it clear that to determine an appropriate sentence for someone convicted of driving while intoxicated the court should consider both aggravating and mitigating factors.

[15] There are a number of mitigating factors present in this case. These include the following:

(a)The lack of any prior criminal record,

(b) The plea of guilty, although its value as a mitigating factor is diluted by its very late timing,

(c) The sincere and intense sorrow that the offender expressed not only in court but also publicly through the interviews that she took part of,

(d) The good character statements made by the accused's family and friends,

(e) The apparently low risk of the accused reoffending.

[16] There are also a significant number of aggravating factors present in this case. This includes:

(a) The dangerous driving of the offender on Brixton Road, a busy market-based road which has many pedestrians whose lives were all put into jeopardy when the accused started the engine of her car,

(b) The very high blood alcohol concentration of the accused at the time of the offence,

(c) The harsh and heartbreaking impact of this crime has on Mr. Potter's friends and relatives.

THE SENTENCE

[17] Earlier I mentioned that for over a decade wizarding courts have punished the devastating effects that drunk driving has on our society. While it is true that in recent years alcohol related driving fatalities and injuries are on the decline overall, that is no comfort to anybody until those numbers fall to zero. The death of Harry Potter has been devastating for the wizarding community as a whole. This hero's death has a profound and irreversible effect on the wizarding world. However, it is important not to forget how devastating the victim's death is to his friends and relatives. This crime will have a rippling effect on the rest of their lives.

[18] Drunk driving injuries and deaths are utterly avoidable and when they happen the entire wizarding community experiences frustration and agony to the point of desperation. We collectively ask, who could do such a thing knowing how dangerous drunk driving is? The truth is that drunk drivers are most often people exactly like Ms. Weasley: a fine young and engaged women who works hard and is otherwise a decent citizen. It was entirely predictable that the accused's voluntary consumption of alcohol could have robbed her of her judgment, awareness, and coordination. Indeed, in London wizards and witches have many opportunities to come home drunk without driving, be it through the muggle transportation system, by contacting a sober friend, or by riding the Knight Bus. I am confident that had the offender been thinking properly she would have realised that was unfit to drive she surely would not have done so.

[19] Section 255(3) of the British Wizarding Criminal Code states that it is illegal to drive while under the influence of alcohol and that it will be considered culpable homicide if this action causes death. It is clear in this case that Ginny Weasley committed this horrific crime.

[20] This law does come with a severe possible sentence. Both the common law and the written law gives me the power to sentence someone guilty of this crime with fourteen years in Azkaban, a ban from driving for at least two years with an upgraded driver's test to regain the license, and demand for an unlimited number of Galleons as a fine.

[21] During the sentencing hearing both the council for the accused and the council for the crown were given the chance to propose an appropriate sentence for Ms. Weasley's crimes. Both sides provided me with numerous cases that supported their proposals, which were helpful for me to come to my final decision.

[22] The council for the crown asked for a tough sentence. In particular, they demanded that Ms. Weasley spend the maximum sentence of fourteen years in Azkaban and asked that I deem that she should not get any parole so to face the full time of that sentence. The union council submits that I should ban the accused from driving for the rest of her life. They also submitted that I fine Ginny Weasley one hundred thousand Galleons.

[23] The defence took an interesting approach in this case. Rather than accepting a plea deal, as most people who plea guilty do, they simply did so in the hope that I would provide leniency. They suggest that at most I should sentence Ms. Weasley to five years in Azkaban. They suggest that Ms. Weasley get a ten-year suspended license after she finishes whatever prison sentence she is provided with. As for the fine, the defence council submits that I should only give a fine of two thousand Galleons and that I should find that the fine be offset by the cost of Ginny Weasley's bail.

[24] After hearing both sides' arguments, taking the time to read all the case law submitted before me, and carefully applying it to the facts of the case I have come to a final decision. I feel that drunk driving is a serious case and despite the mitigating factors I believe that the accused should face serious penalties. For that reason, I order that Ginevra Weasley immediately start ten-year Azkaban sentence without the chance of parole for eight years. I also find that the crown's suggestion for a driving suspension reasonable and order that Ginevra Weasley should never drive again unless she wants to face further prosecution that would lead to more time in Azkaban. I find that both of the councils' suggestion for a fine patently unreasonable. A one-hundred thousand Galleon fine is unheard of for crimes of this type and the cost of bail has never been used to offset the cost of a fine. However, by reading the case law that both councils provided me, I order that Ginevra Weasley pay a fine of ten thousand Galleons.

Rufus Foster

Justice of the English Crown Court of Justice

I hope that you enjoyed this case/experimental fanfiction! As you may have noticed my version of Azkaban differs from the books. To get a better picture of how I conceive Azkaban after the Second Wizarding War, I will shamelessly direct you to another one of my stories: Hermione's Azkaban's Sentence. For those who are curious, in the real case that inspired this story, the man was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, an 8.5 year suspended sentence, and $200 fine (which is all really low in my opinion).


End file.
